[kokoda]

I bought my last car in 2003. I try to get 10 years use out them ... so odds are that my next car will be a horse.

[Bytesmiths]

I think many people are answering this question in the context of their present use. I doubt those who currently commute long distances will be doing that for too much longer! Some say they go through a vehicle in ten years -- that must be 15,000 miles a year or more! I rarely hit 5,000!

So perhaps it would be useful to qualify our answers. Do you expect your future consumption of internal combustion vehicles to be influenced by life-style changes? If you expect your consumption of IC vehicles to go down, will it be due to voluntary or involuntary life-style changes? What are you doing to reduce your consumption of IC vehicles?

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but those questions seem more interesting than one that can be answered in mere numbers. (And "thanks" to those who have already offered such explanations.)

[rwwff]

Well, if you can hold on for about two years, maybe you can buy this:
Chinese Electric Car XS200
GM,FORD...are you watching?

My first instinct is vaporware... But if it really is by the Chinese, maybe not. Their government has the means, and a vested interested in getting as many of their middle class drivers off of gasoline and onto coal-fired electric as they can. In addition, as in all manufacturing processes, the more of something you can make, the less expensive it will be, as long as the available market can sustain the production numbers.

Could be interesting.

[Heineken]

I have one of those manual mowers. It works fine if you cut regularly, if you let the grass get a foot tall and/or cut while it's wet you'll be dying pushing it. I love mine

I agree. I easily maintained a modest suburban lawn with a manual push mower ("American" brand) for five years. And I used a leaf rake, not a leaf blower, and hand-powered clippers, not a power trimmer. While I quietly and harmlessly did my thing, I was surrounded by the almost endless racket from the other people on my street using power mowers, trimmers, and blowers.

I loved the friendly, gentle, old-fashioned music my push-mower made, and the pleasant little workout it provided.

It never seemed to occur to anyone that if my methods were used, money would be saved, pollution avoided, and the public quiet restored.

One of the many ways I've never "fit in."

[rwwff]

I agree. I easily maintained a modest suburban lawn with a manual push mower ("American" brand) for five years.

I'm the only one on our street that uses one. A neighbor once tried to give me a power mower, I told'em "I'd just break it anyway, thanks for the offer though...".

Honestly though, it doesn't seem any harder to push that the gasoline powered push mowers.

I do worry that some of my neighbors might mistake me for a left wing environmentalists, so I make sure to put up lawn signs for my favorite legislative candidates each election season.

One of the many ways I've never "fit in."

I gave up fitting in when I was ten.

One interesting side note, I did once have a lawn maintenance contractor guy stop and talk to me about how well it worked. He wasn't selling me, he was just curious.

[Vexed]

Re: How many more internal combustion vehicles will you buy?

Who knows?

I occasionally drive my 39mpg civic.

I usually drive my 17mpg rotary RX-8. The only rotary powered car on the road today. Damn, it is the smoothest most powerful car I have ever driven. I think I will be sticking with rotaries at least until the electric Tesla arrives in my town.

My car:



Edited for Clarity and spelling and Twice cause I am an idiot.

[ClubOfRomeII]

I usually drive my 17mpg rotary RX-8. The only rotary powered car on the road today. Damn, it is the smoothest most powerful car I have ever driven. I think I will be sticking with rotaries at least until the electric Tesla arrives in my town.

Yeah baby!! I went to trade the wife's Mustang for one of those last December when they were running some deals, I say, use it all before the Chinese get it baby! Bring on the 10mpg sportscars! Let everyone ELSE ride scooters!

[Vexed]

Yeah baby!! I went to trade the wife's Mustang for one of those last December when they were running some deals...

If you didn't get one, I'd say hang on till next week. Mazda is issuing its 4th recall for the RX-8 for all produced years: 2004-2006. Mazda says 1% of RX-8's are elegible for a new engine. I bet there will be some real deals on the market, real soon.

Apparently the car just leaks oil like mad.

Not mine though. Compared to my base-model power-nothing Civic and former Saturns, this car is a Unicorn: A mythical creature I never thought I would chariot. Yes, it is that fun.

I say, use it all before the Chinese get it baby!

Well, that's not really the way I feel. But, man, that's a whole different can of worms. Really squirmy ones...

Bring on the 10mpg sportscars!

Let everyone ELSE ride scooters!

Right or wrong, hasn't that always been how it worked? Man is an animal like any other. If you want him to be more you will be sadly, maybe violently, disappointed. Every person on this planet prefers their personal survival and success over all else.

You might as well wonder why WE select few are able to go on-line and post our smallest thoughts?

Someone ELSE will always have more. Consequently, it is important to choose who you shoot very carefully.

[dooberheim]

Comfortable enough for me (6 feet tall, 230 pounds) to drive 150 miles, which is about as far as I am willing to get from home, gets good mileage (worst so far is 44mpg, mostly in town), and should last us quite a few years.

Only thing you have to watch about those cars (other than the timing belt as I'm sure you know) is they tend to rust in the area of the floor pans. Since they don't really have a separate frame, the seat will eventually fall through the floor. I'm fighting a lot of rust in mine - hopefully I will succeed as it is in really good shape otherwise.

DK

[Chaparral]

Hopefully zero, nada, zilch, zip. I've a 41 year old truck that I'd like to convert to electric one of these days. I second Heineken on the chainsaw though.

As far as a farm tractor though, I'd like to retrofit a small old used one to electric just for pulling small attachments through a small (5 acre max for now??) field at planting and harvest etc and It'd be nice to have a small skiploader like a Bobcat with a backhoe attachment. I am afraid the earthmoving toys will be diesel country, but at any rate, I've always tried to buy everything used instead of new.

The goal also includes getting the electric stuff charged off grid, and not having to rely on PG&E's coal fired electricity.

[smallpoxgirl]

I've only had 3 cars total. Two of them I currently own. So far I haven't had to replace a vehicle because it wore out, but because I wanted some new functionality.

My first car was a '72 Camaro. I owned it for 10 years. I them moved from Tennessee to Michigan. I found I needed something that dealt better with snow, so I got a '76 F150 4wd. I've had it for 5 years now. This summer I found myself driving about 3000 miles in the ford in August. Gas prices were like $3.40 and that was the nail in the coffin that I needed something more efficient. I just picked up a '93 Saturn from a friend.

About the only way that I would be in the market for a new car would be if something catastrophic happens to one of mine or if something more efficient becomes reasonably priced. The Camaro and the F150 both got about 15 mpg. The Saturn gets about 33 on the highway. It would take something in the range of 60+ mpg for under $3000 to get me interested at this point.

[Heineken]

I drive an F-150 pickup with 40,000 miles on it. I bought it new in 1993. It's a straight-6, so I'm hoping to get 300,000 miles on it, but I might die first.

I certainly never intend to buy another vehicle, as long as I can keep this one running and can afford to fuel it.

[nocar]

I never have bought one and I can not foresee I will.

I drove my husbands car back in 1968-71, in Maryland uSA, but since we move to Sweden (my native country) in 1971, we never have owned a car.

We have saved lots of money. None of us like shopping. We have a small cottage in addition to our house in a Stockholm suburb. We have raised 3 children that seem to have turned out quite normal, despite having weird parents.

nocar